The lawyer representing federal independent MP Craig Thomson is seeking to have the case against his client delayed until the High Court deals with a related matter.

If successful, it could mean Mr Thomson's case is pushed back by several months and possibly until after the next election.

The High Court is still to decide whether to hear an appeal from Toyota Material Handling relating to the point at which past events can no longer be prosecuted.

If the court agrees to hear the appeal and Toyota wins, the statute of limitations in such cases would be two years instead of six.

That would mean most of the civil charges against Mr Thomson would also be outside the relevant timeframe.

"It would be... a waste of resources if we conducted a considerable case that took say, for example four days of submissions time and evidence and things like that, only to find half-way through the case or just at the end of the case that the criteria had been reversed by the High Court," Mr Thomson's lawyer, Chris McArdle, told ABC News.

Mr Thomson is facing allegations he used work credit cards to pay for prostitutes and lavish hospitality during his time as head of the Health Services Union, a position he left in 2007.

A directions hearing for the case against Mr Thomson is listed in the Federal Court for February 1.

Mr McArdle says he hopes to get an agreement from Fair Work Australia to delay the case until after the High Court's position becomes clear, and if that is not successful, he will make a submission to the Federal Court for it to be postponed.

Mr Thomson has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to the allegations.